Sunday, August 14, 2011

Cambridge street life

At first glance, this bit of weekend news only shows why Vermonters are so mellow in their native habitat: they come to Massachusetts to act out. However, this is only a tiny slice of Cantabridgian amusements available nearly any day. I live hardly three miles from the epicentre of the Halloween capital of the world. Salem is high-grade street theatre, but as a rule they have to work at it. Cambridge, on the other hand, is people-watching nirvana any day of the year.

Just the day before the incident in the link above, I took the T to the Peoples' Republic for a libation with friends. To ensure a little exercise I rode to Central Square, even though the gathering was near Kendall. Of the many treats I had en route, the best was a "born to be wild" gentleman riding round the block. The rider was vintage biker boy: heavy, heavily tattooed, wife-beater shirt, chromed Nazi-style helmet. But he was riding a motor scooter of mediocre horsepower.

This being Cambridge, the only question was whether the parody was intentional or not. One hopes it was the former.